Give him this day

Good-guy Smith deserves a moment or two in the sun

SAN FRANCISCO -- On the plane flight from New Jersey to the West Coast the other day, I began to formulate my list of the top 10 running backs of all time. I had Emmitt Smith seventh. Not because of any lack of respect for Smith, the man then on the verge of becoming the league's all-time leading rusher. But because I don't think rushing yards are necessarily the mark of a great back. They are often the result, in part, of a symphonic relationship between a running back, run-oriented coaching and a good offensive line. That's what happened in Dallas. Emmitt Smith was drafted into the perfect situation for a great running back. Jimmy Johnson let him gain tons of eat-the-clock yards against worn-down defenses in the fourth quarters of Dallas walkovers.

Five weeks ago, New England topped my poll. Three weeks ago, Oakland topped it. If I had an "NFL Teams Flushing Themselves Down The Toilet Poll," they'd now be Nos. 1-2.  1. Denver (6-2). An eight-point win at Foxboro is still a badge of honor, particularly when the Belichicks have a bye week to prepare. This is football's best team right now. As an aside, did anyone see the really bad facemask call the officials missed on Tom Brady in the final minutes? I mean, some Bronco exorcised Brady's helmet a full 90 degrees and nobody saw it? That wasn't the difference in this game, but it was pretty big.  2. Miami (5-2). Cris Carter will start and get 12 passes thrown to him a week from tonight in his favorite stadium on the planet, Lambeau Field.  3. San Diego (6-1). On his bye Sunday, LaDainian Tomlinson watched Sunday Ticket, and, to stay in good form, spiked the remote three times.  4. Philadelphia (4-2). Good thing for the southeastern Pennsylvania liquor economy that this is a 9 o'clock game tonight at the Vet.  5. New Orleans (6-2). I'm as big a Michael Vick admirer as there is, but come on. You're not a great team when you allow the Atlanta Falcons to score 37 points in your own building.  6. Green Bay (6-1). On the seventh day, Brett Favre's LCL rested.  7. San Francisco (5-2). I like the 49ers, but I'd like them more if they weren't giving up 420 yards to the formerly offensively toothless Plummers.  8. Pittsburgh (4-3). Under Bill Cowher, the Steelers are 71-1 in games in which they have a 10-point at some point. Think of that for a second. Pretty amazing stat. The Chiefs, for instance, have lost two such games (Pats, Broncs) in the last five weeks.  9. Tampa Bay (6-2). You get scant credit, Grudenmen, for going touchdownless in Carolina and coming within a couple of late Gramaticas of losing to Randy (Five-of-Eighteen) Fasani.  10. St. Louis (2-5). Sleeping giant will know if the season can be salvaged within the next two weeks: at Arizona, San Diego at home.  11. Buffalo (5-3). In Drew they trust. And rightfully so.  12. Oakland (4-3). I give up. Craziest team in the league. Ten points at Arrowhead? This team is psycho.

Then I watched Sunday's Seahawks-Cowboys game from a press box TV at 3Com Park before the Cards-49ers matchup. I saw Smith rush for 109 yards behind a line, for crying out loud, of Flozell Adams, Jeremy McKinney, Andre Gurode, Solomon Page and Javiar Collins. I saw Larry Allen on the bench, hurt. I saw Daryl Johnston on the sideline, FOXing. I saw a rookie quarterback, Chad Hutchinson, starting his first game, while all the Seattle focus was on Smith. I saw the Carl Yastrzemski of NFL players, a man who lasted longer than a running back has a right to, still playing hard and well in his 75th 100-yard effort. And I thought: Why demean such a class person, a class player and a credit to the game by saying on the day he breaks a great record that there are six backs better than Smith in NFL history?

We should celebrate a player like Smith, because he stands for all the right things. "He has not once all season asked for anything outside what's best for the team," new Dallas offensive coordinator Bruce Coslet told me last week. "That's what I really respect about him. The young kids here see his team attitude. It's not about him. That's a great thing for young players to see." Obviously Smith wanted to break the rushing record at home, and he wanted it on Sunday, when his family, friends and the Payton family were in attendance. But he never sidled up to Coslet last week to say: Hey, how about feeding me early and often this Sunday? And obviously Smith has been about numbers, to an extent, throughout his career. He has wanted this record since he was in high school, even before we knew who he was. But what's wrong with setting a goal and working your rear end off the achieve it? What's wrong with having a little Pete Rose in him? I'll never forget covering Rose late in his career and early in mine as a writer in Cincinnati. I distinctly remember him telling me: "What's wrong with me wanting to pass Ty Cobb? If that's selfish, I hope I have a whole bunch of selfish guys on my team with me."

Five years ago, when it looked as though Smith had hit the wall, I was dispatched to Dallas by Sports Illustrated to write about Smith's decline. As Bill Parcells would say, we were hanging the black crepe; we'd sent the funeral wreath. Smith at first didn't want to talk to me, because he thought the premise of the story -- that he might be finished -- was absurd. But Rich Dalrymple, the Cowboys' prescient PR man, told Smith that since he had been on the cover of SI so many times during the good times that now, when times were rough for him and his team, he should be a stand-up guy. I thought I'd have 15 minutes with Smith. I got 45. He had no bitterness that day. "I understand," he told me. Most guys in that setting would lash out and talk about how people would regret thinking he was done; they'd say: How could anyone question the great me? Smith was quiet but confident. That was about 6,000 yards ago.

In a era when teams hold themselves semi-hostage to great players (Terrell Owens, Randy Moss), the Cowboys have had to carve out a place for Smith's chase while they try to get good again. That's regrettable but understandable. Those who don't know Jerry Jones would be surprised to know he has some humanness to him. I expect Smith to be gone next year, and I expect the Cowboys to give Troy Hambrick or the next college phenom (a month before the draft this year, Jones was leaning strongly toward drafting Boston College running back William Green) a chance to be the running back of the future. But for now, take nothing away from a man who told me on three separate occasions: "I want to leave my footprints in this game."

You've left them, Mr. Smith. Enjoy your day.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Dallas RB Emmitt Smith. For the record, if Smith never touches another football, the next rookie phenom who comes into the NFL -- say, Maurice Clarett -- would have to rush for 1,523 yards a year for 11 seasons to break Smiths's career mark. And if you want to know the six who would be tops on my list, they are: Jim Brown (far and away No. 1, with a big dropoff to No. 2), Walter Payton, O.J. Simpson, Barry Sanders, Gale Sayers and Marshall Faulk.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

(tie) Tennessee DE Robaire Smith and LB Keith Bulluck. You are Tennessee. You are 2-4. You are leading Cincinnati 30-24 with 1:08 to go. The Bengals have fourth-and-goal at your 1. This is your season staring you in the face. You lose, you've just fallen to the laughingstocks of pro sports. You lose, you have five losses and are all but out of any playoff contention, even in the feeble AFC South. You lose, AND YOU'VE JUST LOST TO THE BENGALS, FOR GOD'S SAKE! Corey Dillon, already with 138 yards on the day, runs right, trying to bull his way in behind pulling guard Matt O'Dwyer. Truth be told, he had room, but Dillon stumbled near the hole, and Smith and Bulluck combine to roadblock the way in.

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Tampa Bay K Martin Gramatica, for saving another bad offensive performance by the Bucs with field goals of 32, 52, 53, and the game-winner from 47 yards late in the fourth quarter of a 12-9 win at Carolina. The highlight of Gramatica's day, though, may have come 50 minutes after the game, when he picked up a cell phone to talk to ESPN Radio live, and he heard host Trey Wingo talk to him as if he were quarterback Rob Johnson. "Rob, you guys make it interesting every week, don't you?" To which Gramatica said: "Hello? This is Martin Gramatica." Aah, the price of fame.

COACH OF THE WEEK

Atlanta coach Dan Reeves. How can you not respect the job this man has done? With a stout defense and a previously one-man offense, Reeves went into the den of the hottest team in the NFC and came away with a pulsing 37-35 win. The man knows how to prepare a team, I'll say that for him.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK I "We've got Johnsons everywhere!"
—HBO Inside the NFL co-host Cris Collinsworth, in a segment on the show mentioning Tampa Bay's abundance of Johnsons (Brad, Rob and Keyshawn).

QUOTE OF THE WEEK II "Last time we played San Francisco, they slapped us around like a rented donkey."
—Arizona coach Dave McGinnis before Sunday's game against the 49ers. So what animal did they get slapped around like this time? I'm guessing an aardvark, apropos of nothing.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK III "It's a hellhole. But I like it. It's the only place where you can pull up on the bus and you've got the whole family -- grandmother, grandfather, kids, grandkids -- flicking you off."
—Giants defensive end Michael Strahan on Veterans Stadium, where he'll play for the last time tonight. (The Eagles move into a new stadium across the street next season.) By the way, "flicking you off" does not mean taking the forefinger and flicking it in some way. It means "giving you the bird."

Only in America Dept.: A Web site, "chiefmoose.com" has sprung up to thank Montgomery (Md.) County police chief Charles Moose, the police spokesman during the sniper attacks, for his diligent work.

There are two.

1. Tell me if:

a. You've ever flown in or out of Buffalo and not been suprised by the number of Asian tourists on the airplane and/or in the terminal.

b. You've ever seen an empty seat in or out of Buffalo on any plane. There has never been one in the history of aviation.

I realize this is the non sequitur of all time, but I flew to Buffalo for the day last Tuesday on a top-secret SI mission (not really), and, even on a drab, gray, typical Buffalo day, the Continental flight was packed each way, mostly with Asian tourists going to or coming from the Falls.

2. In the latest installment of "Weird New York Subway Sightings Seen on Thursdays When I Do My HBO Gig," I saw a male puppeteer crouching behind a homemade red cardboard castle, with Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful wafting from a boom box, far into the 42nd Street station, and a bespectacled brown furry moose with large antlers tenderly kissing the cat puppet from Mister Rogers.

1. I think, in this era of teams pulling presto-change-os overnight, what's happened to the Bears is still notable. I saw them go 2-0 last month in Atlanta. And though they've been hit by defensive injuries, it's downright startling to see them be as feeble as they are right now. Five losses in a row. Seven points scored at Minnesota, with one of the worst defenses in recent NFL history. No one's been this bad so suddenly since the Saints in December last year.

2. I think these are my quick-hit football thoughts of the weekend:

a. Emmitt Smith has lost a fumble once every 151 rushes in his career. That is a terrific stat. When you lose a fumble twice a year, you are doing one good job protecting the ball ... even though he did cough it up once on Sunday.

b. Warm and fuzzy note of the week: Sam Wyche is the quarterbacks coach and a substitute teacher at Pickens (S.C.) High, 120 miles southwest of Charlotte and 155 miles northeast of Atlanta. He's also writing an NFL column, gratis, for the local weekly paper. Talked to him the other day about life and football and his damaged vocal chords, which make it hard for him to speak for more than a few minutes at a time, and he's as quick and quirky and bright and forward-thinking as ever. I told him he ought to writing for NFL.com. Hey Park Avenue: I've got his phone numbers.

c. Ty Law has named his daughter Tya. I wonder if he'll name his next offspring Tyb. Personally, if it's another girl, I hope he names her Daughterin.

d. It was a month ago when Carolina was 3-0 and a darling of the NFL. I called GM Marty Hurney on his cell phone while he was driving home from the team charter after the win at Minnesota and he told me: "We really haven't done anything yet. I'm serious." See, he really knew they hadn't. When you beat three winless teams, and it's September, you really haven't done anything. This week the Panthers lost to Tampa Bay, and it was as predictable a loss -- despite its narrowness -- as any on the schedule. Bucs 12, Panthers 9. My theory on the fall of the cats: quarterback, quarterback, quarterback. The 1-2-3 guys for Carolina on Sunday were Randy Fasani, Chris Weinke and Tim Hasselbeck. And there you have exactly what is wrong with the Carolina Panthers.

e. The vagaries of the Achilles are amazing. Trent Dilfer was running right, trying to find a receiver at Dallas, and all of a sudden, untouched, he started limping as if shot in the calf. Torn Achilles. Gone for the year. No warning. What a strange, strange, debilitating injury.

f. "How can the people of Cincinnati get that beautiful stadium, and we're stuck with Candlestick?" mused 49ers radio colorman Gary Plummer yesterday. Gary, that's a very good question.

g. Just a thought, but the Redskins probably can afford a headset for Steve Spurrier that fits.

h. Browns 24, Jets 21. This one's for you, Al Lerner.

i. Houston winning at Jacksonville is just about the worst thing that could have happened to Tom Coughlin. Here's a guy who straightened out the Jags' cap situation by jettisoning Gary Walker and Seth Payne, as well as tackle Tony Boselli, and Walker/Payne contribute eight solos in the 21-19 win. I bet Coughlin slept about 10 minutes last night, and I bet he's spitting bullets today.

j. Ditto Bill Belichick. Three of 12 third-down conversions, 179 yards, 24 minutes possession time. Wouldn't want to be Charlie Weis today, trying to figure out that mess.

k. One more piece of good news for the Pats: Drew Bledsoe awaits this week. Belichick ought to be a great storyteller at his Wednesday press conference.

3. I think, even though I gave him a pass on this when I wrote about him 16 months ago in SI, I'm now convinced that Matt Millen has to live in Michigan full-time and shuck the day-and-a-half commute (the flights are paid for by the Lions, by the way) to his home in eastern Pennsylvania. It's not healthy when you're trying to build a new organization from the ground up and you're not making your full-time home there. It just isn't. How do you ask your players to be devoted to the cause when you're scrambling to catch a flight home Thursday afternoon and missing everything your team does to prepare on Friday? I think this is an issue the Ford family has to press Millen on after the season, assuming Millen is back for his third season of a five-year deal.

4. I think it's a very good thing Cris Carter has a week off before his debut next Monday in Green Bay. The other day, during what Carter considered a particularly tough practice, he wondered aloud to his coaches: "You guys want me to be all-Davie or all-Lambeau?" At HBO studios last Thursday, he said, "Don't touch me. I'm sore from here [pointing to his upper body] to here [pointing to his toes]."

5. I think these are my personal thoughts of the week:

a. I love the Rally Monkey.

b. Is there a way we could, just once, put the justice system in a drawer for 10 minutes? And for those 10 minutes, could we take the two sniper suspects, if they are indeed proven guilty of the crimes, and throw them off the edge of a cliff into a pit of alligators?

c. Coffeenerdness: The Newark Airport Terminal A Starbucks stand, which I visited stale off the redeye this morning at 6:08, has two of the nicest women I've met. They take pride in their lattes and play a very nice Aretha Franklin CD. Just thought that, since I often tell you when Starbucks Nation screws up, you should know (and Seattle should) when they get it right.

d. San Francisco GM Terry Donahue, after I questioned him post-game for a few minutes on Sunday, said: "Well, let's get ready for five hours of the World Series. Can't they put a clock on those guys? They sure do scratch and spit a lot."

e. Montclair (N.J.) High Field Hockey Note of the Week: Reality bites. The rain-delayed Montclair Invitational Field Hockey Tournament championship between West Essex High and Montclair finally got played Sunday afternoon on the Montclair pitch, and West Essex, ranked third in New Jersey, edged our Mounties 3-1. We took a 1-0 lead 19 minutes into the first half on a goal by soph wing Adair Landy, but we didn't have a lot of chances after that. Tough loss, said my correspondent at the game, junior link Mary Beth King. "We played well," she reported exclusively to MMQB Sunday night. "We spent more time in their end in the first half than they spent in ours. But they're good. They just started fighting back. I don't know. We were holding them for most of the first half, and all of a sudden, it was wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am."

Wow. Didn't know Mary Beth knew that cliché. Anyway, let me go back in time a little bit. Before the game yesterday, as I sat in the 3Com press box, I called Mary Beth to wish her well. "Out the door, Dad," she said, sounding very rushed. I said: "Just one thing, Mary: Play like your skirt's on fire." Who knows what kids think. After the game, she told me she told the team before the game: "I just got off the phone with my dad, and he told me, 'Play like your skirt's on fire.' I think we should all play like that." Well, so much for my career as the Knute Rockne of the curved-stick game. MHS stands 14-1-0 heading into its final full regular-season week of games.

f. MMQB E-mail of the Week. Sorry. No MMQB field hockey player of the week this week. The pelting rain that never seems to end in New Jersey took care of that. But these are great girls we're dealing with here. Last night, as they swapped heartfelt e-mails, Mary Beth asked if I wanted to read the one she sent to the team. I don't think she would mind me sharing part of it.

"No regrets.

"I love you all, no matter if we win, lose, tie, or suck.

"Intensity and adversity will allow the competitors and achievers to rise to the top, while the weak will struggle to stand their ground.

"Let me tell you something, and I said this after the game: I'd rather lose this game and be on a team with all of you than win the Montclair Invitational. You guys inspire me. And you are some of the greatest girls I've ever known.

"From now on, let's actually play like our skirts are on fire. Not just in the first half, not just in big games. Every time we step on to that field, we own it. Don't regret. There is nothing about this season so far that I regret. Leave it all on the field.

"Maybe our record's not spotless anymore. I don't care, do you? Hold your heads up high. The sky's the limit.

"I love you all more than you will ever know!!! The future is what we make of it. Follow me to Trenton!!!

"Mary Beth"

The state field hockey title games are in Trenton the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I'd like to be able to ask for the day off.

6. I think someone should go to Bill Cowher and find out exactly how he gets his team out of its September funks every year. It's amazing. "Our guys got schooled," Brian Billick said after his Ravens fell to the Men of Steel 31-18. Pittsburgh's 4-1 since its opening 0-2 debacle, when Tom Brady and Rich Gannon looked like John Unitas and Joe Montana, respectively.

7. I think the pregame show yuksters need to stop sometimes and actually listen to the words that come out of their mouths when they're trying to be cute. Take the FOX show yesterday. James Brown talked about new Tampa starter Rob Johnson's good arm and good feet, and Terry Bradshaw started cackling and said: "Sounds like a horse! Good arm, good feet." To my knowledge, Bradshaw, who lives in Texas, either has horses or knows horses. And I do not know a horse with either arms or feet.

8. I think if you want to know the effects of Sharpiegate, you might want to look to the Canadian Football League. I hear there was a CFL game 10 days ago in which the receiver and the defensive back jumped for a pass in the end zone, both came down clutching it, and the defender ripped it from the receiver's grasp. The defender whipped out a pen, signed the ball and then gave it to a fan. The offense protested that it was their guy who actually came down with the ball. The officials huddled. They ruled it was an offensive touchdown. So the defensive guy celebrated, signed the ball ... and he was the guy who LOST on the play.

9. I think these are my World Series ruminations:

a. I went to Game 6. I couldn't resist. If you haven't been in that stadium, you'd be shocked to know how intensely the fans love that damned monkey. They put him in film clips of big movies, and when the monkey shows up on the center field video board, you'd think Troy Glaus just hit a three-run homer. Amazing. Funny as anything too. Great baseball game, even for someone rooting for no team.

b. I am stunned at how weak-kneed Major League Baseball was in dealing with the on-field transgressions of 3 1/2-year-old Darren Baker, the ridiculously young bat boy for the Giants, and son of manager Dusty Baker. Baker ought to be enough of an adult, in the first place, to say to his son: Stay in the dugout. Sometimes you just have to tell your kids no. Baseball ought to have the backbone to order Baker to keep the kids out of the way. Imagine if the kid had actually interfered with a play at home plate the other night. What possible ruling could the umpires have made? By the end of the World Series, the Giants dugout looked like a day care center. Baseball, which I'm sure it will do, should make some sort of rule banning kids from the dugout during the game except for the real batboys.

c. Why baseball is losing the battle for the American fan, part 47: At the All-Star Game, commissioner Bud Selig didn't stick around to explain to national TV audience why he decided to call the game a tie after 11 innings. FOX was left to fumble around for answers when Selig owed it to every fan who invested in watching the game on TV why baseball was not giving said fan a full game. Last Thursday, after Game 5, FOX's Steve Lyons tried to interview the hero of the game, Jeff Kent, after his two-homer game. Kent refused, saying he didn't want to talk to anyone. Do these dopes have any idea how turned-off half of the country is to the game already? Good for Lyons, by the way. He went into the Giants locker room to harangue Kent for blowing him off.

d. I want some baseball person to explain to me why the Mets didn't hire Buck Showalter, who was the perfect man for the job. Serious, disciplined and a winner. All things the Mets needed.

e. Is it just me, or did it look like, with a 5-0 lead in the seventh inning Saturday night, that Barry Bonds gave up his at-bat to the Rodriguez kid? I could have sworn Bonds wasn't trying. Could he have been saying the game was in the bag, and let me throw a K to the kid?

10. I think I hate to say this, but the Giants and Jets should cry uncle and dump the horrendous grass they have now at Giants Stadium. They should install one of the new synthetic turfs woven into layers of sand and ground rubber at Giants Stadium. There are four of them on the market now -- FieldTurf (the home field of Seattle and Detroit), RealGrass (Dallas) and NeXturf (Philadelphia), as well as AstroPlay, the next generation of AstroTurf. Every time I see a game on TV at Giants Stadium, the grass comes up in huge chunks. Revolting.

I liked the Giants before two Jeremy Shockey incidents late last week. One, he couldn't finish practice Thursday because of a throbbing turf toe, and he didn't practice at all Friday because of it; if he plays, it'll be the proverbial game-time decision, and if he plays, you know his impact on the game won't be anything close to Shockeyesque. Two, he gave the Eagles all the motivation they needed on WFAN the other day. He called the Philadelphia secondary, which is playing very well, "not very good" and "lucky." Bet you a hundred bucks some Eagles player goes for his feet on the first series tonight, if he plays. That just about clinches it, gang. Eagles, 22-10.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space -- no kidding -- on Monday mornings. Click here to send him a comment.

 

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